Edmund overcomes early scare to see off unseeded Krajinovic

Edmund overcomes early scare to see off unseeded Krajinovic

British No.1 Kyle Edmund battled into the second round of the Shanghai Masters with an unconvincing straight-sets win over Filip Krajinovic.

The 23-year-old was given a stern test by the world No.35 before eventually progressing 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 32 minutes.

Edmund, who has never lost in the first round of this tournament, looked in trouble at 4-2 and a break point down in the opening set but showed resilience to come back and edge through.

He will face the experienced Andreas Seppi in the last 32 of the competition after the Italian overcame France's Adrian Mannarino on Monday.

Edmund has reached a career-high of 14th in the world rankings and went into the match as favourite against a player who has struggled for results during an injury-hit 2018.

However, the South Africa-born player was almost immediately on the back foot in the opening set after failing to hold serve in the just the third game having lost four successive points.

Serb Krajinovic, who took a four-month break earlier this year, was producing confident tennis and dug in to stave off a break point in a competitive sixth game.

The unseeded player looked to press home his advantage and maybe had reason to feel aggrieved not to secure a second break when a late, albeit correct, challenge from Edmund on a wide forehand was allowed by the umpire at break point.

Krajinovic had three opportunities for a break in that seventh game but Edmund, who sandwiched a couple of stunning forehand winners between a number of unforced errors, showed determination to hold.

The Hawkeye call looked to have shifted momentum in the match and, despite being second best, 11th-seed Edmund continued his fightback by putting the match back on serve at 4-4 and then winning three of the next four games to steal the first set.

Edmund had been cheered on by a handful of fans in the sparsely-populated stands and he roared with relief following his set-point winner.

Undeterred, Krajinovic was not giving up without a fight and shared the opening six games of the second set.

Edmund, a semi-finalist at the China Open in Beijing last week, did not panic and relied on his backhand to help him progress.

He raised his level to win the next three games, including a decisive break in the eighth game.

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